Thursday, January 20, 2011

Q&A Thursday: Breast-feeding

Question:

How long do you nurse your babies? What about during pregnancy? How did you nurse the twins?Answer:

I try to nurse each of mine at least a year. Sometimes it has been during pregnancy, which really increases the tiredness of those first few months, though usually, I'm not nursing a lot by that point. I do try to take a multi-vitamin and I drink milk -- calcium can be depleted by pregnancy and nursing.

For those of you who like that kind of thing, that means I've been nursing children for 86 months, over 7 years of my life. I think it's worth it. Nursing is a wonderful gift for a child. The health benefits are wonderful as is the bonding. And it's very convenient, with no bottles to wash or worries about leftover formula.

My kids are really active and tend to nurse more frequently than others, meaning it's hard for me to leave them for more than 2 hours at a time until about six months, when they begin solid foods. We usually bring our babies along on our dates until that point.

I've gotten comfortable nursing pretty much anywhere (with a cover-up, of course). The most exotic place was in the Louvre in Paris near the Mona Lisa. The most uncomfortable was probably when I was squeezed into a tiny seat on the 8-hour red-eye flight to get there.

I like to think I'm pretty discreet, such as when I was talking to another mom while nursing the twins. It wasn't until they'd finished that she exclaimed, "wow, I had no idea you had two under there!"

With the twins, I nursed them at the same time as much as possible, though at night, I only fed the one who woke up. Some twin moms will tell you to wake them both up at that point with the hope of getting up less at night, and I tried that in the early weeks. Later on, I wanted to get them used to sleeping as long as they possibly could, so I would only feed the one who was awake. In the early weeks, I used a nursing pillow and put them both in football holds, but as they got older, I was able to put one on one side and hold her and then lay her sister's head on the first one's belly. It sounds complicated, but it really wasn't.

I do have to add that the first month of the twins' life I was hungrier than I'd ever been in my entire life! It took a lot of calories to do that. I wish I could say I lost weight because of it, but I stayed at about the same weight the entire time, then gained ten pounds in the four months after I quit nursing them! I've never been able to lose weight while nursing.

Nursing is a wonderful thing, with plenty of scientifically proven benefits. It's also not nearly as common as I thought. I read an article today that said by six months, only 43% of women are still nursing even part-time and only 13% nurse exclusively.

I know there are many reasons women can't nurse -- I run into one of them myself when Michael was a baby -- and I don't think it's necessary to hammer home the benefits of breastmilk. There's enough pressure (and guilt) already in most cases. However, it is sad that breastfeeding rates in this country are so low.

2 comments:

I never lose any weight nursing either....what a bum deal! Katy has now gained 13 pounds since birth. Have I lost 13 pounds myself? Noo... At least she is getting the health benefits. And the convenience just really can't be beat.

You're the first twin mom I've heard of that didn't wake the other twin in the night. I didn't either. I tried to the first couple of weeks but I couldn't wake them up. And they wanted to sleep. DUH! I don't know how you would know when one of your twins is ready to sleep longer if you keep waking them up. The first night I DIDN'T wake up Austin when Adam woke, he slept from 10-5. I had been trying to wake him with Adam at 1:00, and 4:00, etc. Whoever thought up that advice anyway? :)

LinkWithin

About Me

Welcome to my wonderful busy life! I'm a runner, a photographer, a reader, a friend, and most importantly, a wife and the mother of ten children: seven girls and three boys, with one set of twins. They are Lillian (16), Joey (15), Michael (13), twins Allison and Sarah (11), Eliza (9), Harmony (7), Katie (5), Cami (3), and everyone's favorite by virtue of his sweet newness, baby Benjamin.
Sometimes I look around at all my family and I'm overwhelmed at how rich I am in relationships, love, and experiences. Other times, I wonder how I'm going to get through the next few hours, much less the next few years! It's a challenging, fun, dynamic, happy life. God has been good to me.
~ Christina

How to Have Your Hands Full and Love it -- Managing a Large Family

Words to Live By

Sharing blesses the giver and the receiver. For the giver, the effort may sometimes feel like jogging uphill feels to me. Even the slightest incline requires so much effort. But once I have made that effort and I’m on the downward slope, I say over and over to myself, “now let the road carry you.” When we are in the midst of a personal challenge, if we can make that huge uphill effort to think of others in need and serve them, then that very act will carry us over our hills of discouragement. And the road can carry us the rest of the way toward renewed purpose and hope. ~ Susan Tanner

When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. ~ Neal A. Maxwell

Our Father also gifted us with the nature to nurture, keen sensitivity to the Spirit, selflessness, discernment, and heroic faith. No wonder our Father placed us at the heart of the family and thus at the center of the plan of salvation. We are the Lord's secret weapon. ~ Sheri Dew

Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity. ~ Margaret D. Nadald